What I can't stand about my iPhone.

[Abstrakt77]

What I can't stand about my Blackberry.

That I can't marry it.

[Jordansrealm]

Originally Posted by Abstrakt77

What I can't stand about my Blackberry.

That I can't marry it.

I have the older model BB for my work and although the design isnt sleek it works fantastic.

[Waldo]

A decent, seemingly objective review of the iPhone's pros & cons:

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=2]The Seattle Times: Brier Dudley's blog[/SIZE][/FONT]

[CeeDubb]

I love the opposing sides...

This phone will never be all things to all people. Even if it had all things under the sun and cost $99, there would still be opposition.

As vehemently as some people try to point out the shortcomings of this phone, I still raise an eyebrow as to why they're so upset that the iPhone exists.

I, too, have a list of gripes, but most of them can probably be fixed with an Apple update through iTunes. While this is only my opinion, I believe that Apple did the right thing by not trying to shove every imaginable feature into the phone right at launch. Just release as many of the core features as possible and make sure they work as smoothly as possible. Each Apple update will fix a flaw, revamp a feature, or add a new program. That's the way it is with many of Apple's software programs. It's kind of like new features and additions are added on a regular basis and keeps the product fresh.

Like I mentioned before. Many of my gripes, and possibly the complaints of others, can probably be fixed with an update. gecallo has a nice long list and I have some time...

1. At $599, it is ridiculously expensive. (Add in the cost of an AT&T contract and you get close to $1500)

Expense is all relative to income. Yes indeed, it is well out of the price range of many consumers. This phone isn't necessarily marketed to the the person that's looking for a "Free or $99" phone. If you buy the 8Gb iPhone and go with a $59.99 plan for two years you'll be looking more like $2150. Don't forget accessories! I spent over $150 already. So you're about $800 low on your estimate. Keep in mind that I know many people can't relate to me having over $15,000 in bicycles and related cycling products sitting in my family room and closets. Especially when they see a $150 bicycle at Wal-Mart.

2. Those who want to buy one must sell their soul to evil mega-corporation AT&T

Aren't most corporations aspiring to be mega and evil? There's always compromises you have to make in life if you want something. However, in this case, no soul-surrendering decision need be made. It only costs $175 to get your soul back.

3. Japan already has technologically superior phones, and they're far cheaper.

I must admit, Japan has some pretty awesome products. There'll be a bit of debate as far as superiority goes. I'll leave it at that. However, I've lived in Japan. The cost of living isn't cheap at all. An inexpensive mobile phone isn't enough to make me move back. Though, Okinawa is such a beautiful place...

4. Slower internet than the commercials show: "The data experience is going to be very slow. If you're on a cellular network, [using the internet] is going to be very slow."

Well, what are you expecting? It's a phone for Pete's sake. This ain't your Mac/PC connected over broadband or a T1. However, I have a Wireless G network I set up at work and it's plenty quick. As quick as I've seen on the commercials. I recently was up at Big Bear and browsing on the EDGE network was perfectly acceptable and pages loaded fairly quickly. Perhaps my browsing expectations aren't as lofty as others may be. I will say that some areas the EDGE network was quite slow (i.e. my house), but my reception is horrible there with all carriers.

5. Initial reports indicate that YouTube is slow and crappy using cellular network internet/EDGE. It's nothing like in the commercials.

You're right and wrong on this one. I played a video (beat box - nouvelle star) on both my Wireless network and using EDGE. On my Wireless G connection it loaded quickly and looked beautiful. On my EDGE connection it loaded quickly and looked crappy. On an EDGE connection it scales down the quality for a faster download. I think it would be silly if Apple demonstrated it on an EDGE connection.

6. You cannot remove its battery. Thanks for replicating one of the biggest complaints about the iPod, Apple!

You're right again! You can't remove the battery. However, the battery last longer than my CrackBerry Pearl and I've been using this thing much more that I ever used my Pearl. I know that a so-called "Power User" may have an issue with this, but I don't think I ever will. I've got a charger in my car, my office and at home. Not to mention it charges through USB 2.0. The non-removable battery is a non-issue for me, but it may be for others.

7. The glass touch screen of the iPhone guarantees that thousands of customers who drop their phones will have cracked screens.

Possibly, but didn't their parents teach them to take care of their s#!+? Though not a perfect solution, but I think there'll be a market for protective cases/covers that just for that very situation.

8. The touchscreen keyboard sucks, according to those who have used the phone.

It me an hour or to to get used to it and you do have to look at it, but I have no problems with speed of text input. I do have gripes about punctuation and cut/copy/paste. However, my phone is simple and there's no dust and crap that gets built up between keys and seams. And my screen is better than yours!

9. It can't send MMS picture messages.

You're right. That really sucks a$$. Hopefully this will be addressed soon with an Apple update. I usually email pics anyway, as MMS resolution is utter crap.

10. The camera has little or no options, and the pictures it takes aren't very good.

There's no options on the camera at all. The camera doesn't perform very well in low light, but if the subject is well lighted, the pictures turn out great. Here's a photo I just took (Click on it for the full resolution shot):


Not too shabby and works for most situations. If I want better photos, I've got a tiny little 6 Megapixel that's usually with me anyway. If you want a great camera in your phone instead of a great PHONE, go grab a Sony.

11. It lacks proper support for Flash websites. So much for the internet.

True that. That's kind of frustrating because many sites have Flash-based navigation (STR.org doesn't). Keep in mind that Flash is an incredible resource hog and I believe I heard that Adobe is working on it. No sense in having your battery draining from processor usage. That's one of the main reasons why YouTube is doing some conversion to H.264 for video. It's more bandwidth and resource friendly.

12. It can't record video.

True that. But has anyone really seen a video recorded on a phone? That's why there's so much horrible looking crap on YouTube and MySpace Videos. I may be alone here, but I'd rather use my camcorder. My digital camera takes video to, but it's primarily a PHOTO CAMERA. Hell...my camcorder takes photos, too, but I'll never use it for that.

13. "Pinching" pictures to zoom might look neat in commercials, but many reviewers are saying it actually sucks.

Umm...Yes, it looks neat. No, it doesn't suck at all. Very intuitive, fun, and downright cool. That's just me.

14. It lacks 3G high-speed data transfer.

True that. The iPhone was in development long before 3G (UMTS) was available. GSM is a much more prevalent and keep in mind that going to EDGE was a simple GSM software upgrade. UMTS is based on CDMA which is the technology that Verizon and Sprint is based on. Though it would have been a welcome feature, the addition of Wireless B/G more than makes up for it in my book.

15. No songs as ringtones.

True that. That's on my list.

16. No GPS.

That would have been convenient. Especially, if you did a search using Google Maps and it already knew where you were at. I don't miss it for the following reasons:

1. Battery life.
2. Battery life.
3. Battery life.

Did I mention the battery life? I wish that the iPhone could at least detect your generally vicinity using the nearest cell towers it was currently communicating with.

Besides, I have a GPS in my car and my Edge 305 on my bike. Hell...my Garmin set me back $300 and the battery life sucks!!

17. It doesn't work under 64-bit Windows XP / Windows Vista!!!!!!! Thanks for not including that in your Windows System Requirements, Apple!

Sucks to be a Vista user. Is anyone using that OS anyway? Hey...does ANYTHING work with 64-bit XP or Vista?

18. It only allows for a maximum of 1 picture to be attached to each e-mail you send.

True that. It would be nice to attach more, but I don't remember the last time I emailed more than one picture at a time with my phone. MMS didn't even offer that...oh damn...I don't have that feature either.

19. It doesn't have a file browser/organizer.

True that. Keep in mind that you can't save files onto the iPhone anyway. And that's a good thing as well as a bad thing. For one, you don't clutter up your phone with crap. However, the flash drive feature of my other phones was nice. A "Search" function would have been nice, especially for email, but you're only searching for maybe four things: Email, Music, Photos, and Notes. Flicking through your Music to find a song is quick and fun. Flicking through your Photo Library is quick and fun. Flicking through Notes is quick and fun. Emails are usually deleted as soon as I read them and I have them all archived on my Mac anyway.

20. It's default ringtones suck.

I like them, but I wish I had the control to use my own.

21. You cannot save documents on it: documents can only be viewed as attachments when they're sent to your email address.

True that. Kinda sucks. At least I can view them (PDF, Word, and Excel only). I wish the iPhone had a document editor. A current workaround is using Notes. You can email the created Note to yourself, then copy and paste on your Mac/PC. Or better yet, just compose an email and send it to yourself.

22. No games!!

True that. I miss my Sudoku. The Web 2.0 one that someone created doesn't work.

23. Its "quick list" dialing sucks compared to traditional speed dialing, which it lacks.

I disagree. I think it works very well for me. There's only a dozen or so numbers I call on a regular basis and those are in my favorites. Flicking through the rest of my phonebook to find someone else is simple and painless. I also have groups set up to narrow contacts down even further. Besides...it's actually fun to flick through everything. I actually enjoy using my phone now.

24. Long activation waits: many new iPhone users are reporting that they are being told to wait hours or even days to activate service for their phone. Thanks, AT&T

I feel for those folks. My activation took all of about 5 minutes. There was supposedly 500K to 700K sold on launch day. From NY to CA, there's about a 9 hour span of folks all trying to activate their shiny new toys. Not just trying to get new service, but many trying to port their existing phone numbers over to their new phone. I'm not surprised that there were glitches because using the 500k figure, you'd be looking at about 1000 attempted activations every minute. I think this is isolated to the sheer number of people activating on launch day. I don't think this will be an ongoing problem. We'll see...

25. Heat issues: the iPhone can get very hot when it is in use.

I had the phone pressed up to my face for a 2 hour phone call and it was only warm. The screen turning off when you hold it up to your face is a great feature. Even while watching my episodes of Lost and listening to music did my phone ever get more than warm to the touch. Nothing even close to a first degree burn was experienced.

26. Deceptive Ads: Apple has been using models with gigantic hands in their advertisements for the iPhone in an effort to trick consumers into believing it is more compact.

Gimme a frickin' break. I'm looking at it in my hand...it's about the same! The specifications are on their website. You can go to sites like http://www.sizeeasy.com to make comparisons. If one is so easily misled by a TV ad without doing their own research then they deserve to be taken. A $600 phone isn't exactly an impulse purchase. Hell...it's got a 3.5 inch screen...how small can it be? Do the math people!!

27. Many of the positive press reports about the iPhone are influenced by newspapers and TV networks that simply want to profit from the hypefest, or even worse, reporters who are looking to sell books about the iPhone.

Uhh...what? I've read most of the positive reports that had no problems in describing some of the iPhone's "shortcomings." One (or a few) small issue(s) (or non-issues) doesn't sum up any product as a whole. I had high expectations with a few reservations. My expectations were more than met and my reservations were justified. I'm more than satisfied.

28. It creates incredibly annoying iPhone fanboys.

As well as incredibly annoying iPhone anti-fanboys.

[kbteachme]

Keep your old phone and sell the iPhone on eBay. With all the money you make selling the iPhone, buy a new bike frame or wait until next year when the 2nd edition iPhone comes out.

[SAR_boats]

26. Deceptive Ads: Apple has been using models with gigantic hands in their advertisements for the iPhone in an effort to trick consumers into believing it is more compact.

Christina (my techie wife) says she knows the hand model who did the iPhone commercials, and he does not have abnormally large hands.

Originally Posted by PHAT TIRE

If you got that kinda cash for a phone, will you buy me a bike?

Not only that but he rides a Specialized Epic (among others) and rolls a Benz.

Would you buy me a bike too?


Cee, you brought up some very good points in contrast to the list of gripes that were posted. And since you actually own an iPhone, instead of just pasing along rumors, hearsay and internet crap; it is good to see the point of view of a user instead of an observer

[Kid A]

c-dub, is that really a paper rolodex in that picture??? how the F does a guy like you who buys and creams all over the latest tech stuff still have one of those on his desk .

Besides looks like all the other cr@p can also be replaced by your new phone (computer, camera, land-line phone, etc.). donate that sh!t to a needy soul (me perhaps) and what up with the airborne...thought macs don't get viruses

j/k phone looks way cool but not for me until cheaper and more memory

[Jordansrealm]

Thanks for the list. I was telling people for a while that it was going to have growing pains. Apple did make a great product but when they had to merge it with another company it was inevitably going to be dumbed down some. Now, from reading the complaints online it seems like its more than that, Apple seriously didnt put enough effort into this phone to make it compete with others in its price range. Basically, you are paying for the Apple name and pretty looks, thats about it.

[Neccros]

Originally Posted by Jordansrealm

Thanks for the list. I was telling people for a while that it was going to have growing pains. Apple did make a great product but when they had to merge it with another company it was inevitably going to be dumbed down some. Now, from reading the complaints online it seems like its more than that, Apple seriously didnt put enough effort into this phone to make it compete with others in its price range. Basically, you are paying for the Apple name and pretty looks, thats about it.

I totally agree... but then the Apple fanboys out there don't care what it costs or how much it may suck/not suck, they will still buy it regardless...

[Fired Yo Momma]

Samsung, Infineon big players in iPhone



By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 7/3/2007

In its iPhone teardown, iSuppli Corp. said it found that Apple Inc.'s first mobile phone offering holds a number of surprises underneath its sleek exterior.
According to the firm's analysis, newcomers Infineon Technologies AG, National Semiconductor Corp. and Balda providing key components in the product, along with established component makers like Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
iSuppli's said its teardown, conducted the weekend following the iPhone's June 29 release, determined that the 8GByte version of the iPhone has a total hardware bill of materials (BoM) and manufacturing cost of $265.83, generating a margin in excess of 55 percent on each 8GByte iPhone sold at the $599 retail price. These costs do not include royalties and logistics expenses, the firm said.
Infineon, a new supplier to the iPod family, was among the biggest winners in terms of semiconductor content, iSuppli said. The German semiconductor supplier contributed the digital baseband, radio-frequency transceiver and power-management devices, providing much of the core communications capability of the iPhone. Altogether, Infineon's silicon content accounted for $15.25 worth of the iPhone's BoM, representing 6.1 percent of the 8GByte version of the product's total cost, iSuppli reported.
National's contribution to the iPhone BoM is one serial display interface chip in the product costing $1.50, which represents less than 1 percent of total product cost. The chip, which connects the display to the graphics controller, uses National's Mobile Pixel Link standard, which the company has been attempting to promote for use in mobile devices. According to iSuppli, this chip is a significant win for National, which has never been included in an iPod.
The supplier for the display module in the model torn down by iSuppli was Germany-based Balda in association with its partner TPK Holding of China. The module costs an estimated $27, representing 10.8 percent of the 8GByte model's cost.
The iPhone's touch-screen display itself is supplied by multiple sources: Epson, Sharp and Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co. Ltd. The cost of the touch screen used in the iPhone is estimated at $24.50, representing 9.8 percent of the 8GByte version's costs.
Meanwhile, Samsung supplies the iPhone's applications processor, which includes an ARM RISC core. The processor costs $14.25 in both versions of the iPhone. The company also contributed the NAND flash memory and DRAM for the iPhone, iSuppli said. In the 4GByte version, Samsung has $24 worth of NAND flash, and $48 in the 8GByte version. For both versions, Samsung supplies 1Gbit of double data rate SDRAM worth $14.
In all, Samsung has $76.25 worth of semiconductor content in the 8GByte version of the iPhone, giving the company a 30.5 percent share of the product's hardware cost—the largest total of any single supplier, iSuppli said.
Other companies scoring design wins in the iPhone include: Wolfson, which supplies an audio codec as it does for the iPod; CSR plc, which supplies the iPhone Bluetooth silicon costing $1.90; and Marvell, which is contributing a Wi-Fi baseband chip costing $6.

iSuppli's findings largely confirm earlier speculation from another market research firm, FBR Research. In January, FBR provided estimates of the iPhone's component suppliers that turned out to largely be on target—with the exception of the touch screen technology supplier, which it estimated would be Broadcom Corp.

As for the product itself, sales of the iPhone have "kicked off with a bang," iSuppli said. And the firm believes that this strong performance will continue. Shipments of iPhones are expected to amount to 4.5 million units this year, and will expand by a factor of nearly seven to reach more than 30 million by 2011, according to Tina Teng, an analyst of wireless communications for iSuppli.
It is not only Apple that has much at stake with the iPhone's market performance—the companies that made the chips included in the handset are likely to see major positive or negative growth, especially on Wall Street, in the coming months. For its part, Apple's stock has soared in the months leading up to the iPhone's debut; shares of Apple opened at a price of $122 this morning, more than double its opening price of $57.52 one year ago.

[Sprockethead]

Originally Posted by CeeDubb

14. It lacks 3G high-speed data transfer.

True that. The iPhone was in development long before 3G (UMTS) was available. GSM is a much more prevalent and keep in mind that going to EDGE was a simple GSM software upgrade. UMTS is based on CDMA which is the technology that Verizon and Sprint is based on. Though it would have been a welcome feature, the addition of Wireless B/G more than makes up for it in my book.

Wait a minute, I thought the whole purpose of going with AT&T was because of the 3G network. Wasn't that a big selling point of the phone last year when they talked about it?

Other than the speed thing, the iPhone is pretty trick. I was very impressed with how well the phone is put together, software/hardware.

[CeeDubb]

Originally Posted by Kid A

c-dub, is that really a paper rolodex in that picture??? how the F does a guy like you who buys and creams all over the latest tech stuff still have one of those on his desk .

Besides looks like all the other cr@p can also be replaced by your new phone (computer, camera, land-line phone, etc.). donate that sh!t to a needy soul (me perhaps) and what up with the airborne...thought macs don't get viruses

j/k phone looks way cool but not for me until cheaper and more memory

Dude...haven't you seen Superman Returns? When Lex was playing with the Krypton Crystals the electromagnetic pulse knocked out all the electronics in Metropolis!! I'll need my Rolodex just in case I have to manually re-input all my business contacts!

And the Airborne...how do you think Macs stay virus-free? Zesty Orange Flavor!! That's how!!

Originally Posted by Jordansrealm

Thanks for the list. I was telling people for a while that it was going to have growing pains. Apple did make a great product but when they had to merge it with another company it was inevitably going to be dumbed down some. Now, from reading the complaints online it seems like its more than that, Apple seriously didnt put enough effort into this phone to make it compete with others in its price range. Basically, you are paying for the Apple name and pretty looks, thats about it.

Did Apple release a phone that I don't know about?

'Cause the one I'm using seems far different than the lackluster, poorly-engineered, feature-lacking, overpriced and over-hyped one you're talking about...

Originally Posted by Sprockethead

Wait a minute, I thought the whole purpose of going with AT&T was because of the 3G network. Wasn't that a big selling point of the phone last year when they talked about it?

Other than the speed thing, the iPhone is pretty trick. I was very impressed with how well the phone is put together, software/hardware.

Nahh...EDGE is 2.5G.

They used the fact that Cingular (AT&T) had the largest wireless network, not the fastest. Coupled with the most subscribers, Apple had a great opportunity with such a large user base. Not to mention, AT&T gave Apple a lot of leeway with how the iPhone was going to be launched, used, and marketed.

I remember reading that Verizon didn't want to give Apple that much control. Would Verizon have been the better choice? Possibly, but that would have limited the iPhone's release internationally.

I'm kind of glad that AT&T was chosen because now they're getting off their asses and completing some much needed upgrades to a network that's not utilizing its full capacity (speed). Besides, AT&T has deeper pockets.

[Sprockethead]

How's about this? The rumor going around now is 3G will be available on the iPhone for Europe.


NewsWireless.net (via Gadgettastic) is reporting that Apple has partnered with Vodafone, T-Mobile of Germany and Carphone Warehouse and is expected to announce the UK iPhone on Monday.

The most unusual part of the rumor is the expectation that the European iPhone will take advantage of Vodafone's 3G data networks.
Vodafone is currently in an ideal position to take on the iPhone, because its 3G network is hugely under-utilised. Pricing on mobile data is normally prohibitive, but Vodafone has recently revised its 3G data charges down, following "rip-off" complaints from users.

Steve Jobs was recently quoted explaining that the reason that the US iPhone didn't take advantage of 3G networks was due to size and battery considerations.

The European version of the iPhone is not expected until towards the end of the year.

Apple burns first generation users again cause your phone won't work on a 3G network. Yeah, yeah, I know, if you wait technology will always get better. But we're talking launching in Europe by the end of the year. So if you purchase your phone now and they're making 3G capable phones in 6 months, wouldn't you be pissed?

[Abui]

Don't forget a spare battery. wooHoo!

[CeeDubb]

Wouldn't it be funny if this ended up just like the 802.11n thing? We could be a software update away from 3G.

Oh yeah...I found the CAPS Lock. It's under the General Keyboard Settings.

[LBmtb]

I don't see what the big deal is about the battery. Who cares if it's not swappable. The iPod's are the same way but last I checked they were still wildly popular and everyone loved them.

Having said that I don't see myself getting one cause it's still pretty expensive for poh suckers like myself.